Portable folding clothes-drier



(No Model.)

G. H. BRIGGS. PRTABLB FOLDING CLOTHES DRIER.

Patented Feb. 14,1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

GEORGE H. BRIGGS, OF AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

PORTABLE FOLDING CLOTHES-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION formingl part of Letters Patent No. 253,503, dated February 14, 1882.

- Application filed December 6, 1880. (No model.)

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEoRGE H. Bare-Gs, of the town of Amesbury, State of Massachusetts, have invented a Portable Folding Clothes- Drier, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in a clothes-drier that is intended to be secured to and supported by the ceiling of a room, and which, when not in use, can be detached from its support and folded compactly' for storage.

Figure 1 is an elevation of the drier as ex# tion of the suspending-rod, the inner portion of two of the folding and expanding arms, and the slotted metallic holder in which said arms are seated. Fig. 6 is a side elevation, showing the drier detached from the ceiling, inverted, and folded ready for packing away.

In these views, A represents the lockingplate, which in Figs. 1,2, 4is shown as secured to the perforated wooden block B, which block is shown in Fig. 4 by dotted lines. In Fig. 3 the upper side of this plate is shown in plan, and as having formed thereon the two higher studs c e and the two lower ones ff, and also the diametrically-opposiie passages or slots b b, which communicate with the centralkpassage, a.

c is a metallic plate, which is secured to block B upon its upper plane, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4, and which is secnrefl to ceiling D, as shown in Fig. 1. i

A supporting-rod, g, provided with the handle h, is of a diameter to readily enter passage a in plate A and the corresponding passage in block B, and the pin d, inserted in said rod, enters through said slots b b when the rod is inserted in plateA, and when said pin is above the top of studsff, then byimparting a slight rotary movement to the rod the projecting ends of said pin may beseated in the position shown in Fig. 3, and so as to be respectively between studs e andf, as shown, and so as to 'prevent the unlockingthereof and consequent accidental falling of the drier from such cause. By forming said studs c eof a greater height than studsff, the rod may be so arranged as to be raised so that pin d will pass over studsf, but not over studs c,- and as slots b are formed next the vertical side of studs e, therefore rod g, when inserted, can only be rotated in one direction, and so as to bring said pin d between said studs, as stated.

Plates A C and block d may all be formed as one casting, if desired.

A metallic holder, j, is formed with a hollow central boss, n, to receive rod g, and, when the drier is lowered, to furnish a bearing on the enlarged handle h, as shown in Fig. 5. A series of apertures areformed in said holder around the center, to receive the clothes-supporting arms i, which are arranged to assume the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 when the drier is suspended, and to fold in the manner shown in Fig. 6 when the drier is inverted. Said arms i are secured in place in holderj by the slotpins l Z, which project beyond the sides of the arms and so hold the saine in position. In said supporting-rod two springcatches, 7c m, are secured in the same manner as are umbrella-catches. (latch la secures holder j in position when the drier is folded, as in Fig. 6, and catch m secures the drier in position when it is raised, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1.

In use, the supporting-block beingsecured by the screws in plate C to ceiling D, as shown in Figs. 1,'2, the supporting-rod g is then interlocked with plate A, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and the holderj, with its arms,is lowered upon handle h, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1,

-for convenience of arranging the articles to be dried thereon, when said holder j and its arms are raised and secured in position by catch m, as shown in said Fig. 1. By depressing catchm the holder) may be lowered upon 95 handle hand the clothes removed; or by means of said handle rod g may be unlocked from plate A and the clothes thus lowered and removed, when the drier maybe folded, as shown in Fig. 6, the supporting-block remaining permanently secured to the ceiling. l By arranging catches 7c m with their respect- IOO ive supporting angles or ends toward the ends of rod g, the holder j, when moved over either of said catches, and between the same and the adjacent end of said rod, is held in place by such catch. Thus when saidv holder is moved above catch m it is there held by said catch while being used as a drier; but when said holder is moved over catch kit is there held in place, While arms t' fold down beside rod g. This arrangement of said catches is of material utility, as one catch secures holder j and its arms iin position when expanded, and the other catch secures said holder at the opposite end ot' rod g when arms t' are folded beside said rod. Y

The employment ot' two pins, l, in each arm i, in the manner shown and claimed--that is, With said pins on opposite sides of the wall of holder j-efects amaterial result, as said arms are therebysecured from fallingout of the slots in the holder, and yet expand or fold together as freely as if but one pin were employed, by being inserted in both the arm t' and holder j to serve as a fixed pivot for the arm, as has been done. Without my said two pins l in each arm it would be necessary either to insert the pivot-pin in both the arm and holder, or to form said arms with a shoulder and atenon of reduced thickness to extend through the slots in the holder, with a pin through said tenen inside the Wall of the holder, or else to use but one pin on the inside of the holder, with the annoyance, when expanding said arms, of their falling out of the holder. By forming said arms of uniform thickness I am enabled to first insert the pin that is next the inner end of the arm, and then insert the arm in the slot ot' the holder, from the inside th erect', when the pin uponV the outer side of such holder is readily inserted, and this obviates the trouble and expense f inserting a pivotal pin in both the `arm and the body of the holder, or the trouble of inserting one ot' the pins in the arm inside the holder after the arm is inserted therein, as would be necessary it' but one pin were employed and the arms were tenoned, as described.

I am aware that an extensive variety of expansible and contractile clothesdriers, arranged to be supported by a central standard inserted in the ground, 0r to be self-supporting when expanded and seated upon a door, or to be suspended from the walls of a room or other vertical support, have been invented, patented, and introduced to the public; but I make no claim to these, nor broadly to an expansible and contractile drier, my invention being confined to the specific construction embodied in the claims.

I claim as my inventionl -1. lThe holderj, having the slots, as described, in combination with the arms z', adapted to such slots, and the pins l Z, arranged in pairs and passing through said arms, one pin of each pair being inside of the holder, the other pin outside of the holder, whereby the arms are held pivotally in the slots between the pins, all substantially as set forth.

2. In a vertically-supported clothes-drier, the combination of plate A, formed with passage a, slots b, studs e e, and the minor studs fj', and the supporting-rod g, with its lockingpin d, substantially as specified.

GEORGE H. BRIGGS.

Witnesses J. R. MOFFITT, T. W. PORTER. 

